For Marshmallows

For Crushed Biscuit Topping

For Those of you who don’t know, This is a S’more, a traditional campfire treat that is really popular in the United States. One of my personal favorite decadent Treats. This new twist to the recipe kind of came about when I had a special request for work; Someone requested a children’s bday cake that was healthy but yet appealing to kids…So, I made Healthy S’mores Cake and from what I heard, the kids loved it!

I decided to make a healthy Cupcake version just because cupcakes are way cuter and its easier for “portion control”…so here is my version of Healthy S’mores Cupcakes!

Here’s what to do:

Make Cupcakes

Melt the Chocolate and butter either in the microwave or in a double-broiler (bain-marie).

In a bowl beat together the Sugar and Eggs until you get a light and fluffy mixture.

Add the olive oil and beat until incorporated.

Using a spatula, mix in the melted chocolate and butter. Once incorporated mix in the powders (oat flour, salt, cacao, baking soda and baking powder).

Finally, mix in the greek yogurt.

Serve the cupcake mix into your cupcake tins (fill up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the tin) and bake in hot oven for 20 mins approximately.

For the Marshmallows

Place the water and sugar in a pot, stir it to incorporate and then place over medium-high heat and allow to boil without stirring at all. Allow this mix to come to 120 C.

Meanwhile, place the gelatin sheets into really cold water until they soften ( 5-10 mins).

Beat the egg whites until they form light, fluffy, solid white peaks.

When the sugar and water reach 120 C, remove from heat and stir in the gelatin sheets until they dissolve and immediately pour the mix into the fluffy egg white peaks and beat constantly with an electric mixer until the mixture cools (about 4-5 mins).

Place into an icing bag and either serve directly into cupcakes decorating them however you like, or make different shapes marshmallows on a sheet of baking paper covered with 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut.

Allow for the marshmallows to set / dry (about 30 mins) before serving.

If you own a gas torch, brown your marshmallows a bit before serving and top with some crushed sugar-free biscuits, you can try my Healthy Sugar-Free Short Bread Cookie Recipe or any other sugar-free biscuit you like.

P.S: Not including the crushed biscuits topping, each of these cupcakes only yields to about 20g of Carbs and about 9g of Fats!! So enjoy it Guilt-Free!!

Ingredients

1 Cup of Oat Flour

1/2 Cup of Almond Flour

1 Egg White

1 tablespoon of Honey or Agave Nectar,

or 3-4 tbs of Sugar or Sweetener

1-2 Tablespoons of Filling:

You can use anything you want as a filling! I personally decided to make a few different ones: Regular Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam; Peanut Butter and Strawberry jam (both sugar-free); and Chocolate and Peanut Butter (also both sugar-free)

Preheat oven at 200 C

I got the idea to make these bad boys when I asked my mom to send my from Venezuela some Protein Granola Bars or Quest Bars if she found (they don’t sell those in Greece). Anyways, my mom did not really have ANY CLUE of what I was asking her for…but she still said she would find them! In the end, she sent me a care package with these Quaker Oatmeal Bars (not even close to what I wanted) that weren’t bad, but weren’t really tasty either….

When I tried them I thought: I like the crunchiness and taste of the actual bar, but the strawberry filling is Terrible!! So I kept trying to mask the bad flavor by adding my own sugar-free strawberry jam on top and peanut butter and what not…..Finally, one day I decided to just go for it and make my own version of these Oatmeal bars….

Here’s how I did them:

I make both the Oat Flour and Almond Flour by placing the required amount in a blender and blend it until it has a flour-like texture.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spoon, fork or your hands until it becomes a dough ball.

Divide the dough in 5 equal pieces and place on a flat, clean surface so that you can stretch the dough using a rolling pin. Basically we want to end up with 5 square pieces of dough.

Using a knife or cookie cutters, feel free to make some cute design on the one side of your dough.

Choose your fillings! You don’t need very much of it, only about 1 tablespoon or 2 per bar. If you choose Sugar-Free Jam, just add it directly to the bar, however, if you choose chocolate or peanut butter, make sure you melt them a bit in the microwave so that they become easier to spread. If you do a Peanut Butter and Jam, mix one tablespoon of each before spreading it on the granola bar…this way you get a much fuller mixture of tastes in each bite!

Add the fillings in each one of your squares, only on one half of your dough; take the half of dough and cover the filling with it, like a sandwich.

Using your fingers or a fork, press the edges of the oatmeal bars to close them up properly and so the filling doesn’t come out.

Place in prepared tray and in preheated oven at 200 C for 8-10 minutes or until they start to brown in the edges.

And they are ready to eat!! This can easily be a snack you can carry on the go, post-workout or when you are in a hurry. Because of the almond flour and honey, plus the peanut butter and chocolate filling, to me, it tastes like a really clean version of Snickers!!

As you can see from the picture, these Homemade Oatmeal Bars are abouttwice the size of the store-bought ones but the same calories and carbs! Meaning that each bar contains about 15 grams of Carbs, but all healthy carbs and it only has the healthy fats from the Almond Flour; this does not include the filling, since it depends on what you decide to add….But so that you have a guideline: the Total carbs in the PB&J (Peanut Butter & Jam) Oatmeal Bar is 23 carbs, whereas the store bought Oatmeal bar has 24 grams of Carbs per bar.

Full Fat Vs Full Fit

The series of “Versus Posts”, that start with today’s Full Fat vs Full Fit Blueberry Bundt Cake, is with the intent of showing that when you live a healthy diet you can “make your cake and eat it too”. Eating healthy, to me, means making healthy food choices for most of my meals, but allowing myself a splurge of something decadent when I truly crave it. These recipes are a great example of that: I love bundt cake and so does my Boyfriend. I made this cake one weekend and both of us enjoyed it. I ate a couple of pieces of eat, spread within a couple of days, and then it was over. I still had blueberries left, so I decided to make a healthy version of the Bundt Cake, one that would have less carbs and fats, and that I could eat a piece or two every day, not feel guilty but still be satisfied with the taste. This healthy version turned out more delicious than I even expected!! It was great as breakfast, a snack or dessert after dinner! And a better investment that eating a chocolate or something else decadent for most of the time!

Here’s a little overview of the “Full Fat Version vs the Full Fit Version”

You get the gist of it…the important thing is to replace the unhealthy sugar, fats and carbs for healthy ones! The result being that The Blueberry Bundt Cake, full fat version, yields approximately 12 pieces each containing 35 g carbs and 4 g of Fat(for those of you who count their Macros) whereas the Full Fit, Low-carb Blueberry Bundt Cake yields 10 pieces, 10g of Carbs and almost no fat per piece! I find this to be an acceptable trade, so I choose to make the healthy version way more often than the regular version! But I am not going to lie, the full fat Blueberry Bundt Cake is to DIE FOR…so whenever I am really, truly craving it I make it and I have some of it too!! (Portion control is the key here!)